This winter we have hit the deadliest flu season of all time. If you weren’t already aware, there are several strands of the flu that have mutated over the last decade, now having 2 of it’s most dominant strands Influenza A-H3N2 (what we’d like to call Strand A) and Influenza B-H1N1 ( what we’d like to call Strand B). Having the flu is funky, it’s actually nothing like a cold. With a cold you can generally tell what it is, you have the same type of common symptoms like runny nose, cough, sneezing etc. With the Flu your symptoms aren’t just in your respiratory area, it’s your entire body. You can experience pain, body aches, chills, dehydration, sore throat, shortness of breath, and a lot of other not so fun symptoms. The flu could be different for everybody however, as not one flu is the same. You may have one strand of the flu, and someone else could have the other, but it’s diagnosed as the flu.What’s taking everyone out is Strand A, deemed the most deadliest strand, as a record 37 people have died from the flu this year. Although we hope you are consistently washing your hands, and taking preventative measures from getting the flu, we wanted to arm you with steps to take in the event that you do have symptoms of the flu, and get you back on the right track.

Don’t Self Diagnose

Most people don’t know what strand of the flu they have, or commonly misdiagnose themselves with just a severe cold. You could indeed have the flu, and not be treating the virus. In this case your condition could be further off, and the more you prolong treatment, the worse it will become. When first seeing signs of the flu you’d want to go to your medical provider and get diagnosed by a clinical professional. The flu is treated by it’s symptoms, not as just an overall treatment. Your doctor will provide you medication that you should be taking with his recommendation. Get the prescription filled, and get on the medicine as soon as possible.

Drink Plenty of Fluids

Gulp it down boo. Your throat may be sore, you may be really tired, and just want to sleep. But, your body needs the fluids you put into it, in order to help the medicine that your taking do what it needs to do. You also need to be drinking heavy fluids to stay hydrated to beat symptoms of dehydration, and so that your flushing the medicine that your taking out of your body when your use the bathroom. A lot of UTI’s and yeast infections come from not flushing your system out when your on heavy medication.

Don’t Make Contact With Membranes in Your Face

This is super important! Yes you already may be sick, but you don’t want the virus to keep spreading. You’re already incubating the virus in your system, but you want to keep your hands clean at all times, and make a conscious note to not touch your eyes, mouth or nose with your hands. As a best practice we recommend always using the backside of your hands, or using Kleenex to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth. This is also a best practice in general for those trying to stay clear of getting sick period. A lot of the germs we pick up are on our hands, and we get sick when we constantly are touching our faces, rubbing our eyes, and picking our noses.

Soup It Up

Chicken noodle soup really is good for the soul! Not Campbell’s though – we call that soup water. Get yourself some hearty chicken noodle soup. You may not love it, but the broth contains ingredients that coat the stomach and helps when your taking the meds and pushing the fluids. When your under the weather you already don’t really have an appetite, but you must be putting food into your body to keep up your energy. We recommend as soon as you’re not feeling well and have been diagnosed by a doctor, hit the local supermarket and stock up on your remedies. Tons of chicken noodle soup, tons of orange juice, Gatorade, and water. We also love cookies to make us feel better, so grab some of those too.

Vitamin C (1000mg a Day)

As we all know, Vitamin C helps build the immune system. Orange juice is great, but you don’t get alot of the actual vitamin because it’s crowded with tons of sugar and carbs in the juice. A surefire way of getting the most Vitamin C you need is from taking the actual Vitamin C pills. We recommend taking 1000mg pills of Vitamin C to help your immune system fight the virus. We like to always have some on hand in our medicine cabinets, as taking Vitamin C pills on the regular will help reduce the amount of times your body gets sick.

Cut Back on the Pain Killers

Your body needs to fight the virus, not the pain killers. You need pain killers for your fever and nothing else, so instead of taking 2 every 4 hours, maybe take one every 6 hours once your fever starts to back off. This way you are still taking a little something but not as much. Tylenol is great at reducing fever. If your fever doesn’t break after being on medication for 24 hours, see a doctor immediately.

Avoid Being Outside

Your body should be resting – after all it’s fighting an actual virus. Take this time to rest, get some much needed sleep, and catch up on your favorite TV shows. Yes you have a million things to do, but you’re already no good, so what’s the point of making it worse with not getting any rest. Your body needs time to heal and repair it’s self. Give it that time.

Clean House

When you’re feeling up to it, it’s time to start cleaning house. When you make that run to the supermarket, make sure you grab some Clorox wipes or Lysol wipes to start wiping down the things that you consistently touch. You absolutely don’t want to get sick again once your starting to feel better because your house is germy, but who knows where you picked up the virus, or if it’s still lingering on your doorknob somewhere. As a precautionary measure – make sure you wipe everything down during the flu and after to fight the germs. Remote controls, cell phone cases, light switches, doorknobs, sink handles, refrigerator handles – we’re a little OCD, but we can keep going.

You should always be taking precautionary measures to prevent yourself or your family members from getting sick. We are people filled with different germs and picking up germs on the daily from others. Make sure you are always keeping your hands clean throughout the day and before eating meals. As we mentioned, try to be mindful of not touching your face, and being sure to take your vitamins on the regular. We can’t be out here slaying the world if we’ve got Kleenex stuffed up our nostrils and smelling like Vick’s vapor rub boo.